Computer files, such as Java class files, may have specific standard formats. The standard formats of computer may limit the data that can be provided in relation to the files. For this reason, annotations may be provided to add additional information regarding computer files. Annotations may potentially be found anywhere within a set of computer files.
In a particular example, Java allows annotations to Java class files, with the practice now being specifically described in annotations under Java release 5.0 (Java under the JDK (Java Development Kit) 5.0) as provided in JSR-175 recommendation regarding code annotations. The annotations may add guidance regarding certain class files. Thus, a Java class file may include one or more annotations associated with program elements.
It may become necessary or useful to determine what annotations are present in a set of computer files. However, locating annotations within files can be time consuming and inefficient because the process generally requires searching through all of the files, which may be in the form of a hierarchical file structure or contained within an archive.